Former Pakistani skipper Mohammad Hafez has raised questions about the selection of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the national cricket team, highlighting their poor performance continues in recent years.
Speaking on a room YouTube Channel, Hafez said that key players have been those who have won matches and in recent years, Rizwan and Babar have failed to offer winning match performances.
“Calling them key players would be wrong and unfair. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are not the main players of Pakistan Cricket at the moment. Key players are those who win matches for Pakistan.
“If we look at last year and a half to two years, players showing coherent performances are Salman Ali Agha, Saeem Ayub and Hasan Nawaz. Why don’t we talk about it? These are the current players of players for Pakistan,” he said.
Hafez also interviewed Babar and Rizwan in the team, saying they had to justify their places as players.
“I think Babar and Rizwan have to worry about their positions in the team. They must first prove themselves good players; the main players come later. The two were good in the past, but now they don’t give results,” he said.
He advised both to regain the form and also criticize the performances of Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
“The two must be fully involved in the game, otherwise the results will not come. The same goes for Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi, they do not give winning performance for Pakistan,” he added.
Hafez stressed that Pakistani cricket does not need big names, but players who can occur in a coherent manner for the next decade.
“We have to focus on players who can contribute for the next 10 to 15 years. Our media criticize one or two players and mortgages one or two others, which is false. We have to talk about those who actually play,” he noted.
He also criticized the players for failing Pakistani cricket on the field while having solid public relations campaigns on social networks. Hafez urged the PCB to act.
“If we want to improve Pakistani cricket, those of the AC rooms and those who execute plans on the ground must solve these problems quickly,” he concluded.
